permissions;

[workaphilic]

PERMISSIONS POST

For the uninitiated, Sherlock Holmes is considered to be the most visible fictional character to use what's come to be known as the Sherlock Scan. Basically, he's trained himself over the course of most of his life to observe small details about persons or situations and deduce facts from those details, all in the span of a few seconds. It's as natural to him as 2+2=4, and it happens more or less immediately when he lays eyes on someone or something.

This scene from the BBC canon is a good example, as it's been lifted almost exactly from A Study in Scarlet and The Sign of the Four. (With a few updates and expansions.)

Obviously, this creates some problems re: infomodding. In an attempt to curb things a bit, I've given Sherlock a loss that scales back how much information he's able to blatantly reveal that he knows (as he is wont to do -- he's kind of a jackass). So, you kids who don't want him reading your deep, dark secrets? No problem! He can't talk about it, and I won't have him treat your characters any differently than he normally would.

However! He's certainly still able to make deductions about people, and those deductions could dramatically change how he reacts to certain characters. If you'd like to be involved in that, well, this post is for you!

If you'd like one of your characters to be Sherlock Scanned, let me know here! To help you out, I've provided a handy dandy form below:

<b>CHARACTER NAME:</b> (self-explanatory! yes?) <b>DETAILS:</b> (what is it specifically that you want Sherlock to gather? small details about your character's manner/dress/etc. that could help him reach this conclusion are super helpful and welcome, but not absolutely necessary. also good to mention if there's anything you specifically DON'T want deduced.) <b>CANON:</b> (if you could, some links to canon and character wikis that I can research myself would be great, in case I'm not familiar. para wiki is fine if it covers most of the relevant bases!) <b>OTHER NOTES:</b> (basically anything else you can think of that didn't get covered above!)

Comments

[kethedammit]

CHARACTER NAME: Mildmay
DETAILS:

Deduce away! Everything is on the table. Notable details:

- Mildmay has a scar across his face. From the shape of the scar and its markings, it's obvious that: 1) Mildmay has no feeling in the left side of his face due to the scar, 2) Mildmay received the scar from a dagger, and in a fight, quickly and haphazardly, 3) Mildmay received the scar a long time ago, more than ten years, 4) the scar at one point became infected.

- Mildmay's scarred hands show signs of having to climb with them often on surfaces not made for climbing. His hands are worn with obvious signs of work and labor. There are also occasional cuts, showing signs that he's been stabbed lightly and shallowly. The injuries are consistent with knife-fighting.

- Mildmay is suspicious and wary of magic, law enforcement, and mention of ghosts. Infer into that what you will.

- Sherlock may be able to tell that Mildmay keeps a butterfly knife in his boot. It's reconciled from view, but possibly how he walks, combined with the other obvious familiarity with knives? IDK this one is totes up to you, man.

- Mildmay dresses in a very exacting fashion, but not fashionably. His clothes look a bit late 19th centuryish, and are almost entirely black, save the undershirt and cravat. They are always clean and well-buttoned, never messy or out of place. He keeps his hair, red, back in a braid. He refuses to be seen disheveled.

- Has a limp originating in his upper left leg. The injury is inconsistent with any scientific or medical diagnosis, but it's clearly injured, buckles under too much weight, and cannot twist straight like a healthy leg would. He leans on a heavy carved wooden cane to compensate.

- Mildmay always checks a room before entering, surveying it for escape routes, possible weapons, and possible sources of confrontation.

- Mildmay has excellent reflexes and balance, despite his leg.

- Mildmay is extremely observant, and is always looking at something, other people, his surroundings. He rarely completely veges out, even if he doesn't talk much.

- Though Sherlock probably doesn't have the cultural information relevant to process this data, Mildmay's accent is fairly de rigueur for people from the Lower City sections of Melusine, Marathat. To a modern Earth-dwelling human, however, it just sounds a lot like a Southern United States accent, specifically from around the vicinity of Tennessee. Mildmay pronounces all French words by American pronunciation rules.

CANON: Mildmay's canon is fairly obscure, there isn't much wiki info on it. I however am a weird encyclopaedia on the subject and am happy to field questions.
OTHER NOTES: mildmay is an extremely sherlock scannable character, so i just wanted to throw this here, even if they never meet in person!